


Hitting On You

by quackcanadian



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Boy x boy, Gay, Keith x Lance - Freeform, M/M, Volleyball AU, bxb - Freeform, keith and lance, klance, shallura - Freeform, sports AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2018-12-18 17:27:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11879313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quackcanadian/pseuds/quackcanadian
Summary: Lance, Hunk, and Pidge are a trio of friends attending Voltron High School. After being on the boys' freshman volleyball team last year, Lance and Hunk have their hopes set high for their next year. Come spring of their sophomore year, the boys exceed their expectations and earn spots on the boys' varsity volleyball team. Then, a new kid comes to VHS halfway through the year: Keith Kogane, a boy with a mysterious background, reserved personality, and questionable haircut. Keith's demeanor peaks the attention of Pidge and Lance alike, and it becomes their mission to learn more about him.





	1. Intro/ Index

**Author's Note:**

> so i saw this prompt for an au on theories-of-my-fandoms's Tumblr, go check them out! this au is coming to you from a real live volleyball player, so i hope you enjoy. before i even begin this fic, i know I'll end up using volleyball terminology out of habit, so below is an index/ vocab list of positions and such, as it may be helpful to those who dont play. (apologies in advance-- I'll do my best to explain things as the story goes on, and i promise i am going to do my best to keep random terms out of it :)
> 
> *also, i know that their ages are totally inaccurate, but if shiro can jump from being 25 to a high schooler, then the rest of our peeps can bump down a grade, lol.
> 
> *also, I'm an AO3 virgin (as far as writing goes) so i'll probs be putting things in the wrong place all the time but oh well.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> info on me, volleyball, and a vocab list to reference if you get confused !!!

hey! so as i mentioned in the description, i am a volleyball player irl, and that's mainly why i wanted to write this fic, lol! i will do my very best to steer clear of terminology used in volleyball that non-players wouldn't know, because it would make everything harder for you guys, but this fic is going to be oriented mainly at volleyball playing (besides klance and the voltron cast, duh). i wanted to put in a quick layout of the court, a few rules, positions, and actions that you might need to know at one point or another during the story. reference this at any point during the story if i slip up and habitually use some strange terms (sorry in advance)! Most of this page isn't strictly necessary, but i would recommend reading the section explaining positions, because i reference them many times throughout the first few chapters. 

If you're going to skip through most of this, at least make sure you read the "positions" section in bold!!

Map of court:  
________________ (<\-- court end line)  
1              6               5

\---------------------- (<\-- ten-foot line)  
2              3               4  
~~~~~~~~~~~~(<\-- net)                         
4              3               2  
\-----------------------  (<\-- ten-foot line)                                         

5              6               1  
________________  (<\-- court end line)                            


*when you're visualizing our characters play when they're on the court, go by the bottom half of the court diagram pictured above (the side of the net directly above this paragraph-- it'll make much more sense if you look at it like that!) this diagram wont be extremely vital to your understanding of the story, it'll just help you understand the positions people play that are listed below. 

Rules and regulations that will make your understanding better:

\- only three touches are permitted on one side of the net (you may have less than three, but no more than three).  
\- when you serve the ball, you cannot cross the end line of the court.  
\- you may not make contact with the net (ever!)  
\- "double touching" (when someone goes to set and they contact the ball two times, once with each hand by accident) is strictly illegal.  
\- the ball must land in the court boundaries and inside the two antennae on the net for it to earn your team a point. 

Vocabulary/ Terms Used:

Set/setting: (verb) to pass the ball using your hands over your head. Generally this is done by the "setter", in order to set the hitters/spikers up so they can spike the ball, but all other players can set at any time during the game. 

Hitting: spiking. (People say "spike" outside of the volleyball world, though us players get mildly offended when people say "spike" instead of "hit", but they mean the same exact thing). Hitting/ spiking is generally done from the front row of the court, but back row players can also hit/spike, so long as they're behind the ten foot line. 

Passing: most basic thing done in volleyball. The first contact when the ball reaches your side will almost definitely be a pass. This is done with your forearms contacting the ball, but passing can also be done by setting the ball. 

Serving: whatever team earns the point gets to serve the ball for the next point. Serving is done from behind the end line of the court. 

***

***Positions (this part's important!):***

Setter: person in zone 2 on the court. Their job is to set the hitters/spikers up so they can attack and earn points. (Kind of like the quarterback in American football-- the setter decides where and how the team attacks during a play.) (do you watch "Haikyuu!!"? If you do, this is Kageyama's positon :)

Outside hitter: person in zone 4 on the court. Responsible for hitting, or spiking, the ball from the front row. Also known as a "left side", "opposite", "wing spiker", and "pin-hitter".  (do you watch "Haikyuu!!"? if you do, this is Hinata's position :)

Middle blocker/ hitter: person in zone 3 on the court. Usually the tallest person on the court and team, their job is to block hits/spikes from the other team. They also may be spiking/hitting at times from the middle. 

Libero: the one in the different colored jersey. They are, in short, the designated "really good passer" on the team. It's their job to be the best at passing so they can pick up serves and hits/spikes from the other team. The libero is never allowed in the front row, and they can rotate into the back row so they're always in the game. The libero is typically the smallest person on the team. 

Back row/ defensive specialists/ D.S.: the other two people in the back row of the court. However, these people are often not put in, and other players from the front row might just rotate around the court.


	2. first impressions

Lance sucked in a huge gulp of air. It took an absurd amount of effort to refrain from screaming. He threw open the door to the balcony connected to his bedroom, running to the railing and yelling at the top of his lungs, "FUCK YES!" 

He continued to jump up and down and squeal on the tiny cement balcony. "Yes, yes, yes, finally, finally, finally, FUCK," he yelled continuously, gripping his phone as he jerked around wildly. 

From: jmanson@voltron.net  
T0: undisclosed-recipients >  
Bcc: lmcclain9@voltronlions.net

Congratulations to the sixteen of you for making the boys' varsity volleyball team. I have a good feeling about this year's team. 

Linked below are the practice and game schedules. Excited to see you all Tuesday at 3:00 in the large gym. 

\- John Manson, Head Boys' Varsity Volleyball coach 

Lance read the email over again at least nineteen times. He had imprints in his palms and fingers from how tightly he gripped the iPhone. His head snapped to his bedroom door when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Running inside his room again, he swung open the door, trying to look casual by leaning against the door frame. 

"Dios, mijo, are you okay?" Lance's mother asked, coming up the stairs with a basket of laundry. Her dark eyebrows were knit slightly. 

Lance couldn't help a smile that spread over his face. "I made varsity!" He squeaked, his shoulders scrunched and raised higher than his chin. His cheek muscles were strained from his uncontrollable excitement. 

"You what? Speak up--" 

"Look!" Lance said excitedly, holding his phone out for his mother to see. She retracted her head and squinted her eyes, reading the email from Lance's coach. 

"Lance!" His mother said, matching Lance's enthusiasm. She put down her laundry basket and hugged Lance tightly. "I'm so proud of you! Varsity, as a sophomore! My boy is so talented." 

Lance hugged his mama. "I'm gonna go call Hunk and see where he was put." 

His mother smiled broadly and nodded. "I'll make ropa vieja tomorrow night for the news." She kept smiling as she walked away to the washing machine. Walking back to his room, he pulled up Hunk's contact in his phone and pressed on his number. 

"--MY GOSH LANCE YOU WONT BELIEVE THIS I MADE VARSITY WHAT DID YOU MAKE IM SORRY I MEANT TO--"

"--HUNK I MADE VARSITY TOO DOES SHIRO KNOW OH MY FUCKING GOD IM SO HAPPY--"

"LANCE! Language!" Called Lance's mother from down the hall. Whoops, his door was still open. And he was shouting. But, he didn't care, because--

"WE MADE VARSITY OUR SOPHOMORE YEAR HUNK HUNK HUNK," Lance was once again jumping up and down and pumping his fists. 

Hunk was laughing giddily on the other end.

"I'm calling Shiro. You know, he probably already knows we're on the team. Wait, does he?" Hunk rambled. Out of the blue, the phone cut off. Lance laughed and shook his head already pulling Pidge's contact up. 

"PIDGE--"

"YOU MADE VARSITY!" She shouted. 

"WE MADE-- Wait, how'd you know?"

"'Undisclosed recipients'? Please, I'm not an amateur. I forwarded the email Matt got to myself, a few clicks and I found everyone else's names and pages on Google Classroom."

Lance wasn't surprised. "Who else made it that we know?"

"Bitch, you and Hunk are the only sophomores."

"Biiitch," Lance breathed softly. 

"There's some other person named Keith Kogane. I've never heard his name before, and I don't know what grade he's in, but that's the only person I don't recognize. I suppose he could be a sophomore, or freshman. I'll send you a list of everyone." 

"Thanks. I'm gonna do some deep-diving on this Keith kid. Talk to you later."

"Bye." Pidge said, then hung up the phone. 

***

Lance bit his lip looking at his screen. He knew most of his new teammates, besides Keith Kogane and a few others. He picked up his phone and opened Instagram. He typed "keithkogane" into the search bar, scrolling through all the accounts that popped up, and clicking on a few randomly. He had no solid leads as to who Keith was, so he decided on old-fashioned Google. 

Lance was ready for articles about an Academic Decathlon winner, but he had no such luck. Countless Facebook profiles popped up, suggesting anyone whose first name was Keith. Then, his eye caught an article about Galra high school volleyball. This must be him, he thought. Clicking on the article, he examined the picture of fifteen teenage boys wearing maroon jerseys, lined up, with one holding a trophy. 

GALRA HIGH VOLLEYBALL TAKES THE WIN OVER ALTEA ACADEMY  
May 9th, Marcee Hilaire  
The Gulls of Galra High School take home the first place trophy after yesterday's varsity championship volleyball match. The game went to five sets, the teams fighting neck and neck, until Galra High pushed Altean Academy out during a final set, winning 15 to 13. The captain of the Gulls, Zeke Marshall, says--

Lance stopped reading. He moved his gaze to the tiny italicized print captioning the photo, where he scanned the list until he found what he was looking for-- "Keith Kogane". He counted the boys in order to find Keith's face, and he was met with an East-Asian looking boy with shaggy black hair. He wasn't hard to pinpoint looking back, as Keith wore a deep purple jersey. So he's the libero, Lance thought, interesting. The picture was grainy, so he couldn't be sure, but was that a mullet? Lance internally sighed. He scanned the article in vain, to see if Keith's name was featured anywhere else, and was almost shocked when it was. 

Keith Kogane, the only freshman on the team, and the team libero, says, "Yeah, being the only freshman was hard, but rewarding, you know? Um, I liked to be pushed by my older teammates during practice."

Lance's jaw dropped. 

Unfortunately, the Gulls won't have Kogane in their lineup any longer. He's transferring to Voltron High School, in Ulta for the next school year, says teammate Mark Jackimoritz. Voltron High School, long-time rival of the Gulls, was bumped out of the running in the semi-finals by Altean Academy--

Lance shut his mouth, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets. So he's pretty damn good, he thought. But why was he leaving Galra for Voltron? Lance shrugged, deciding he'd figure it out soon enough. He copied the article link and texted it to Pidge, then left his desk to put on Spiderman pajama pants. 

***

Lance was practically bouncing with excitement as he walked into school alongside Hunk. "I'm so pumped. I bet we'll be benchwarmers, but that doesnt matter, because at least we get to practice with the older guys, right? I mean, we made the team for a reason, so I guess there's that, but seriously, I'm so excited. This--"

"Lance. Bud. I know. I'm excited too. You did remember we have a quiz in Spanish today, right? Did you even do the Spanish homework?". Hunk said.

"I took Spanish for a reason: I already speak the language."

"Yeah, but Gonzalez doesn't know that. Seriously, did you do it?"

Lance sighed. "Yes, madre, I did it."

Hunk echoed Lance's sigh, then began to quiz his friend on vocabulary. Lance managed to get them all correct-- Spanish was one of the rare subjects Lance didn't hate. 

"I think I'll ask Mrs. Jensin if I can leave my stuff in her room; she's my last period-- HOLY SHIT HUNK," Lance whisper-yelled to his friend, pulling Hunk so they were behind Lance's locker door. "That's that Keith kid Pidge and I told you about. Look, he has to be. Man, he's so much smaller in real life." 

"That makes sense, considering he's a libero."

"Ohh, so you did do some reading?" Lance said with a smirk, earning a playful shove from Hunk. Lance's eyes followed the black haired boy as he walked down the hall. "I swear to the holy Lord above, if he-- Oh my God." Lance looked to Hunk, with an expression between excitement and terror. At that time, Pidge came sprinting over to them. 

"Lance, I just saw that Kogane guy, he was walking down this hall but then he turned and-- why do you look shocked?" She flicked Lance's forehead. Lance shook his head once belatedly and muttered an 'ow'. 

"He's in biology with me," Lance whispered. 

"I wonder if he's in any other of our classes," said Hunk. "I guess we'll find out soon. He came at a good time, considering today's the first day of the third trimester."

"Lance, this is our chance. Now's the time to learn everything you can about him. Go on, get a seat next to him, before it's taken!" Pidge said, nudging Lance's shoulder. 

"You're not even his teammate, Pidge. Chill," Lance said, laughing lightly. "But really, he has a mullet. I dont't think the ladies will be rushing to sit next to him." 

Pidge shrugged. "I don't know dude, he's got good features. And that's coming from me. Seriously, go. I'm in full stalker mode, and you have to do your part."

Lance rolled his eyes and laughed, but he internally was excited. Sure, Keith was pretty, but he looked like an outcast. He felt bad for saying it, but that was his initial thought. Stop it, Lance scolded himself, the reprimanding voice in his head reminding him of his mother's. He quickly texted Hunk to joke about Pidge's ridiculous interest in the new kid. He tucked his phone into his bag and scanned the room for Keith. He found the boy sitting in the middle of the classroom, surrounded by three empty desks. Lance didn't know why he felt slightly nervous, but he did. He walked over to where Keith sat and smiled. 

"Hey man, I'm Lance. Are you Keith?"

Keith's face remained in a bored expression when he turned his head. "Um, yeah. How'd you... How'd you know that?" Keith had one eyebrow slightly raised. 

"You're the only one on the volleyball team whose name I'd never heard before; I figured you must be new, and I've never seen you around before. Can I sit here?" Lance said, gesturing to the open seat next to Keith. 

Keith looked mildly startled by Lance's assertiveness. "Uh, sure. Um, so you're on the team too?"

"Yep," said Lance, pulling a pencil out of his backpack. "What position do you play? I'm an outside hitter." Lance felt like some sort of spy, knowing the answers to all the questions he asks. 

"Libero," Keith answered. Lance was getting the feeling Keith would rather not be having this conversation. 

Lance nodded. "Cool. Hey, where did you move here from?"

Keith bit his lip, but released it so fast Lance wasn't sure if he'd seen anything at all. "Um, not far. Around fifty minutes away, in Waltham." 

"Cool. Did--" Lance began, but then realized that Galra High was not in Waltham-- it's in Arlinsville, a few towns over. "Did you play volleyball there?" He recovered. He was suddenly very interested in learning why Keith lied, but figured he'd wait until later. 

Keith nodded. "Yeah."

Lance waited for him to go on, but he didn't. After a moment, Lance said, "I played freshman last year, and can't believe I bumped up to varsity. What about you? What team were you on, level-wise?"

"Varsity," Keith said. 

"Woah, really? You must be, like, really good. Have you been playing for long? Do you--"

"Yeah, thanks. Um, what time does class start?" Keith interrupted. 

Lance felt mildly offended. "Seven forty."

Keith nodded. "It's seven thirty-nine." He checked, looking at the clock on the wall behind Lance's head. 

And that was that. Mr. Prestin stood up from his desk and started giving a speech about the first day of the new quarter. Lance turned his head to the front of the classroom, biting the inside of his cheek. So this might take a little persistence, Lance thought, I can roll with that. 

"Okay, to kick off the third trimester, I want everybody to find a seat with someone they've never met before. You have one minute." Mr. Prestin told the class. They got up and started moving around the classroom, asking people if they could be partners.

"I guess we don't have to move," said Lance. 

Keith nodded, his eyes still directed to the front of the room. 

"I want you to take out your green notebook and switch with the person next to you," said Mr. Prestin. Lance and Keith, as well as everybody else in the class, did as they were told. 

Once everyone was seated, Mr. Prestin spoke again. "We're going to play the silent version of 'Two Truths and a Lie'. I'm assuming you all know how this game works. In your partner's notebook, write down three sentences-- two are true, and one is untrue. After you've both gotten them written down, switch back." Mr. Prestin then turned to the whiteboard behind him. He drew a line as well as a narrow oval, and announced, "Make your guesses by underlining what you think are true. If your partner's guess is wrong, you must think of three new sentences. If one of you guesses correctly, but the other doesn't, the only one who needs to write new ones is the one who got them right. Got it? Any questions? Good. Don't start yet!" He said, as a girl in the third row had started writing. "This is a race. The first pair of partners to guess correctly, without speaking, wins. This room should be silent." He peeked at the clock, waiting until the second hand reached the twelve. "Ready, set, go!" 

Everyone's head went down and pencils began moving. Lance had started thinking ahead on what he would write, and wrote this:

1\. I have five siblings, not including me  
2\. I speak Portuguese fluently  
3\. I love to swim, and I do swim team

He put down his pencil to show that he was done. Keith seemed to have already finished, so Lance picked up his notebook and gave it to Keith. Keith slid his under Lance's. Lance glanced down at the notebook, pencil back in hand. It read, in a messy script:

1\. I have a cat  
2\. I'm allergic to cats  
3\. I have a brother

Lance bit the inside of his cheek. Well, why would he have a cat if he's allergic to them? He underlined the sentence following number one. Wait, then maybe number two was true, and number one was a lie? He glanced at Keith, who had already finished guessing. He looks like his only friend is a cat, thought Lance. He kept his original guess, and underlined number three. He handed Keith back his notebook, as Keith did Lance's. 

Keith had underlined numbers one and three on Lance's notebook. Wow, he'd actually gotten them correct? Lance wrote in the corner of the margin, You got them all right! Keith nodded. He wrote below his own list, I have a cat and I'm allergic to her. 

Lance read the words and pursed his lips, nodding slowly. He gestured to Keith's paper, as only Keith now had to think of new facts about himself. Keith started writing. 

1\. I like planes  
2\. I do cross country  
3\. I like to run

Keith had pushed his notebook over to Lance when two girls in the front row raised their hands. "We're done," one of them told Mr. Prestin. Lance stopped watching the exchange and went back to the paper in front of him. Well, obviously, if he likes to run, he does cross country, right? Lance thought. He underlined two and three. 

Keith looked back at the notebook, shaking his head. He turned the book back to facing him and circled one and two. I hate running, he wrote next to the list. 

Lance was becoming frustrated. Why was he making this so difficult?

Keith started writing again, pausing to think in between sentences. 

1\. I hate pizza  
2\. I hate chocolate  
3\. I like ice cream

Lance tilted the notebook back to himself. Everybody loves chocolate, Lance thought, already underlining one and three without a second guess. 

Keith sighed quietly, shaking his head again. He circled numbers two and three. I like pizza, I like ice cream, and I hate chocolate 

The volume of the room had started to slowly rise as people began finishing. Lance was gnawing on his cheek and had to remind himself to stop. 

Keith started writing once more. 

1\. My cat's name is Scarlet  
2\. My cat is black  
3\. My cat is white

How would I know what his cat's name is? Lance thought angrily. Lance could have sworn Keith had a small smirk on his face. Lance read them over, and feeling defeated, randomly circled numbers one and two, sliding the book back to his partner. 

Keith wrote down under his final list, finally 

Lance put his head in his hands. He picked it back up and raised his hand, and so did Keith. Mr. Prestin finished checking over someone else's work and came over to them. "Congratulations, boys, you're the last people to finish," their teacher said, as people around them snickered. Lance couldn't help but let out a tiny laugh, to avoid being humiliated. Mr. Prestin walked back to the front of the classroom. 

"That activity took a whole twenty-five minutes. Do you know why?" He asked, sitting on the corner of his desk. No one raised their hand. 

"It's impossible to get to know someone by just looking at them. You can't pass judgement until you have a reason. That's about all we have time for today, guys. Tomorrow we'll go over classroom rules and fire exit drills and boring stuff like that." 

Lance turned to Keith when their teacher finished speaking. "Dude, why'd you give me such hard facts?"

"Hard? You kidding? They were easy."

Lance knit his eyebrows. "No, mine were easy. You guessed them on the first try."

"I didn't have to guess for one of them. Your shirt says VHS Swim Team." 

Lance looked down at his blue and white baseball style tee and sighed. He shut his jaw that had sort of dropped. "Oh. Right," he said sheepishly. 

"And, you're pretty outgoing to be an only child. You wouldn't talk so much if you didn't have other siblings to share parents' attention with."

Lance started to speak, but closed his mouth. Then Keith's sentence registered in his brain. "Well, at least I talk. You could at least be a little more subtle when you try to shut someone up." 

Keith's mouth thinned. He didn't respond. Keith opened his mouth, as if to speak, but the bell rang and cut off his words. 

Lance picked up his notebook and left, not bothering to push his chair in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all should go check me out on tumblr @ quackcanadian. i reblog a shitload of stuff related to a shitload of books and tv shows lol ;)


	3. coach's captain's practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First official practice of the season, but coach wanted to "spice things up".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sorry if this chapter gets confusing lol. feedback would be so helpful bc i feel like im speaking some cross between English and volleyball, so if anything about the positioning or lingo gets confusing please message me on my tumblr (quackcanadian) or comment here (you can do that, right ?) and i will try to change it and translate it into language that is clearer! maybe if any of your friends play volleyball you can now relate to them at games and such and use the lingo and sound like a Kool Kat™
> 
> also this chapter is kind of uneventful sorry lol i just wanted to incorporate and introduce some of the characters and stuff. also,,,,, u may notice characters such as Blake and Alfie,,,,,, guess whose names i tried to "modernize"!!!!1!!!!1!
> 
> *peppering: a game or warm up where two people pass the ball back and forth to each other from about ten feet away  
> *the setter's position (zone 2 on the court) is the same as the right side hitter's, but the play is complicated, so i wont explain it, because its not extremely necessary lol.

"So, let's start off our first practice with some icebreakers. Coach said today we're having a 'coach's captain's practice', so he won't be here, to give us a chance to get a feel for each other. Let's go in a circle and tell everyone your name, your grade, and, uh, your position," said Takashi Shirogane, team captain of the boys' varsity volleyball team. He said this all with a confident smile. "I'll go first. I'm Shiro, I'm a senior, and I'm a setter. Also, I'm a team captain."

Matt Holt was next. "Hi, I'm Matt. I'm a middle blocker and I'm a senior. I'm co-captain." He radiated a kind of quiet confidence.

Lance's attention was peaked when he realized Keith was standing next to Matt in the circle. He had a volleyball and was resting his arms on it as he hugged it to his stomach. "I'm Keith, I'm a libero, and I'm a sophomore." Lance expected Keith's statement to be quiet, but despite Keith's reserved personality, his voice was loud and clear. 

By the sixth person to say their piece, Lance had already forgotten the two before him, and decided to give up on names for now. He'd figure them out sooner or later. 

Then it was Lance's turn, after a boy who called himself Rax. Lance cleared his throat. "I'm Lance, I'm an outside hitter, and I'm a sophomore," he said, fluctuating his voice unintentionally at different parts. 

Hunk was next. "Hey, I'm Hunk, I'm a sophomore too and I'm a D.S." 

Four more people spoke, and then it was back to Shiro. "Okay, great," he said. "Why don't we do some dynamic warm ups, and then grab a partner and start peppering*?" 

The team went to the end line to start jogging to the net and back. When they finished, Lance poked Hunk and went to get them a ball. They found a spot next to the net and started warming up their arms. Out of the corner of his eye, Lance could see that Keith didn't have a partner. He gestured with his eyes at Hunk, indicating he was going to invite Keith into a group. Hunk looked to Keith quickly then back to Lance. Hunk shrugged, the OK Lance needed. Lance tossed the ball to Hunk and walked over to Keith. 

"Hey, man, wanna pepper with Hunk and I? We got off to kind of a rough start earlier."

Keith's face was nearly expressionless, but it was a stony kind of hard. He nodded. "Sure, thanks." 

"Why don't we go find a corner, so the three of us can fit?" suggested Lance when they reached where Hunk stood. Keith and Hunk nodded, following Lance as he led the way to the corner of the gym. Lance indicated to Keith he was going to toss the ball, and Keith nodded. Lance threw it Keith's way, and Keith passed it to Hunk; Hunk passed it to Lance. They went around in their triangle like this. 

Lance wasn't surprised that Keith was good at passing. A libero's primary job is to pass the ball. Suddenly, Lance felt the need to better his own passing, even though it wasn't really his main job. "You're a really good passer," he told Keith. 

"I am a libero," Keith replied. 

Lance bit the inside of his cheek. He wanted to give a snarky retort, but held himself back. Why did he so badly want to just tell this guy off? Just then, Shiro blew his whistle and called everybody to the center of the court. 

"Okay, guys, why don't we do some serving? Split half and half, eight on one side and eight on the other." He pointed to the opposite end lines on either side of the net and blew his whistle, dismissing the team. Lance followed Hunk to the end line on their side of the net. Matt and Shiro dumped out the ball cart full of volleyballs and rolled them to either side. People started serving balls over the net. Lance picked up a ball and threw it to Hunk, then walked over to an abandoned one and picked it up for himself. Hunk stood and served it over the net. 

"How can you manage to have that much power by just standing still? I have to do a full jump serve just to get half as much power as you have." Lance said, bouncing the ball in his hands on the ground. 

Hunk laughed. "Are you kidding? Your serve is amazing," replied Hunk, who had started to go into the court to grab a ball. Lance retreated to the end of the basketball court lines, where he would serve from. People from his side of the court were serving, and the other side were serving back. Lance had to watch for stray balls rolling his way so he didn't roll an ankle. He began to do his jump serve-- left, right-left--

He was distracted by a ball from his side that went whizzing barely an inch above the net and dropped straight in the center of the other side of the court. Lance's eyebrows raised to the heavens. He looked for who had sent that, and saw Keith with his knees bent, clearly having just landed his serve. Lance closed his mouth a few seconds after he realized he was staring. A couple people shouted "Nice serve!" to Keith. 

Lance bit the inside of his cheek and moved back to his starting point again. For some reason, Lance felt the need to show off, almost show up, to Keith. He tossed the ball and began his serve approach. Toss, one, two three, swing-- "Fuck," Lance whispered under his breath. He hit the ball at the wrong point on his hand and the ball flew way out of bounds to the left, barely scraping the side of the net. 

Lance quickly turned around and started looking for another ball. He took a few deep breaths and tried again. This time, the ball went maybe six inches above the net and slammed home along the end line. Some people shouted, "Nice serve!"

Lance felt accomplished. He wasn't, however, in the mood to fail another serve in front of the talented varsity players, and Keith, so he only served a few more, making every one. 

***

"Let's do some hitting lines, okay? We're gonna alternate, though. Back row players can all stay on one side and rotate in, and pass the balls being hit. Who are our setters?" Shiro asked to the team, now gathered at the net. Shiro raised his own hand, as did another one of the seniors here. 

"Perfect. I'll go on one side, Rax on the other. What about pin hitters?" 

Lance raised his hand, as did about five others. 

"Okay, split up two and three on either side." 

Lance went to the side where Shiro would be setting. He looked more approachable than Rax. 

"Middle blockers?" Three people raised their hands, one being Matt. "Okay, one on one and two on the other." Matt went to Shiro's side, and the other two went to Rax's. "D.S's and liberos?"

Keith, Hunk, and two others raised their hands, and they were the last four who hadn't dispersed, save for Shiro. "Great. Two on either side." 

Keith went to Rax's side of the net. Hunk went to Shiro's. 

And they started. Shiro nodded at the outside line, it having one more person than the other lines. The boy in front of Lance (Alfie? Lance wondered.) tossed the ball in a high arc towards Shiro. Shiro set the ball to maybe-Alfie and Alfie swung away. 

"Nice hit!" Lance called, along with a few others. He catches someone yell, "Nice Alfie!" 

Alfie's spike went zooming down into the court, but Keith managed to pop it up into the air. "Nice dig!" Lance said, after seeing Keith pick the ball up. 

It was Lance's turn. He tossed the ball up high to Shiro and made his approach. 

Lance jumped so high that his hand made contact with the ball a foot over the blockers' hands. The ball flew down to center court where Keith passed it. Lance quickly grabbed his ball and ran around to stand behind the other pin hitters, who were now waiting as Matt hit the ball. He got a kill-- the ball slammed home between Keith and Hunk on the gym floor. 

A chorus of, "Nice swing!" "Yeah, Matt!" and "Nice hit!" echoed around the court. 

Alfie swung again, but was blocked by the the two guys on the other side. Shiro nodded at Lance, indicating that he could throw the ball. Lance tossed the ball. Shiro set it high in the air. Lance made his approach, swung,--

And missed. The ball went out of bounds by about four feet. Lance bit the inside of his cheek and ran to get the ball. 

Lance was determined to get a kill, or have no one touch the ball, off one of his hits. He promised himself it would happen-- he made varsity for a reason, right? He was known for his aim on his travel team. 

He made three more swings. One was blocked, one Hunk picked up, and the third one hit the ground about three feet in front of Keith. Lance smiled as he was praised with the team, jogging to catch his ball that Keith tossed to him. 

"Thanks," he said. 

"Nice hit," said Keith. 

"Thanks," replied Lance. 

Lance didn't get another chance to hit. Shiro called, "Okay, let's switch. Lance, Alfie, Matt, Blake, Anton, and I will take turns blocking on this side. Hunk, Keith, Gavin, and Sam can come over here and pass the balls that Rax sets to Rolo, Finn, Jay and Hudson."

Lance rolled his ball to Mark Hudson on the other side, and the other boys on his side of the net did the same thing to others. Lance stood next to the net, in a line behind Blake and Anton as Alfie took the outside hitter spot, Matt took the middle, and Shiro went to the far right of the net. 

Finn tossed the ball to Rax and Finn approached the ball. He swung, but it went into the net. 

"Nice try," said Hunk weakly. 

Jay was next. He swung and the ball slammed down to center court, but Keith dove and popped it up. 

"Nice dig!"

Lance moved onto the court, his knees bent and his arms up, ready to block. Hudson was hitting on the right side, so Lance and Blake would be blocking together. Blake hopped over to Lance and they jumped up together. Their arms reached over the net, and the ball went slamming back into the other side of the block. 

"Nice block, man! We were really in sync!" Blake said, high-fiving Lance. Lance smiled. 

Blake moved to the rightmost spot on the net and Lance took the middle. Shiro went in to the outside position. It was Rolo's turn to hit. Rolo went from the outside, and Lance transitioned to be next to Blake. They jumped together perfectly, but the ball went off the tip of Blake's fingers, and into their court. Hunk dove for it, so did Gavin, and Gavin put the ball in the air using one hand. 

"Nice up!" Lance called, rotating into the setter position. Now Finn was up to hit again. He was going from the right side, so Lance wasn't blocking his hit, but he would cover Shiro and Matt as they went up to block, in case the ball ricoches off their hands and into the court. 

Shiro and Matt successfully blocked Finn's hit, even though Finn had incredible power. The boys high-fived each other and rotated one spot over. Lance ran around the court and got back in line. 

The drill went on for about fifteen more minutes, until Shiro yelled, "Okay, guys, nice job! Let's round off practice with some kings!"

Lance was excited, as almost all volleyball players would be. Kings, also known as Queens for female volleyball players (and Monarch when the group had both men and women) is a game widely played by volleyball players all around. Four people are on the court: three people who play both back row and front row, plus the setter who stays along the net. Players line up along one end line in three lines waiting to go onto the court, and if the people on that side of the court lose, they leave that side and three new people come on. If that side won, they advance to the other side of the net, and stay there until they lose the point. The goal is to be the "king of the court"-- being king of the court means being on the farther side of the net. 

Lance jogged to get in the leftmost line. Keith went to the middle line, and Hunk filed in on the far right. Rax was on the farthest side of the net, and Shiro was on their side. 

Lance counted the people in line, and figured out who his team would be. Keith and  would be playing with him, and their setter depended on who won or lost this round. Seven people already filled the court: Rax, Blake, Gavin, and Rolo were on the opposite side; Shiro, Matt, and Finn were on their side, and Hudson was getting ready to serve. 

"Serve!" Hudson called. He tossed the ball and swung at it. Gavin passed it to Rax; Rax to Blake, and Blake swung at the ball, his spike landing along the back line. Matt, Finn, and Hudson left the court, and Shiro stayed put, as did Rax, Blake, Gavin, and Rolo. A new three walked on: Alfie, Jay, and Anton. Anton served. 

The point went to Shiro's team. The four of them advanced to the other side, and Rax's former team left the court and got back in line. Lance's turn-- he jogged onto the court with Keith and Sam. Sam served the ball, and Alfie passed it to Shiro. Shiro set Anton up, and Anton tipped the ball. Keith ran and dove to get the ball, and succeeded. Rax sprang over to it and set up the outside. 

Time to shine! Lance thought internally, excited to hit. 

Deciding the ball was too far off, or away from, the net, Lance tipped the ball over Shiro's hands and five feet in front of Sam. Sam scrambled to get there, but didn't make it. Lance's team ran under the net and into their respective spots. 

A new team filled in where Lance's had been. Hunk was now in the spot directly in front of Lance. Lance smiled. Hunk smiled nervously back, getting ready to serve. He tossed the ball, and his serve barely skimmed the net, going far into the back of the court. Lance started backing up, keeping his knees bent. The ball was going slightly to his right, and he called out, "Mine!" 

Unfortunately, Keith had the same idea, and yelled, "I go!" right as Lance called out. The two ended up crashing into each other, Lance's joined hands punching Keith's, their legs bumping into each other, and the ball went flying to the left of the court, ricocheting off Keith's left forearm and Lance's shoulder. Keith ended up on the ground, and Lance rubbed and rolled his shoulder that Keith slammed into. 

Lance offered Keith his hand. "Dude, I called it out," he said. 

"I did too. Plus, it's my job to pass. I got it next time."

Lance bit the inside of his cheek briefly, trying to break the habit that was slowly shredding the inside of his mouth. He was a little annoyed, but he didn't say anything, because bad sportsmanship would get him nowhere. But seriously, who does he think he is? He thought. 

He nodded. Then, they realized their former team had already evacuated the court, and Hunk's team was moving in. Lance and Keith jogged around on opposite sides of the court and got back in line. 

***

"How was practice, mijo?" Lance's mother asked. She stood by the stove, stirring boiling pasta in a large pot.  At the table sat Lance's little sisters Alicia and Alissa, nine-year old identical twins with far from identical personalities. Alicia was coloring in a butterfly on a piece of paper, and Alissa was reading a Junie B. Jones book. 

"Fine," said Lance passively, taking his sneakers off at the door. His volleyball bag and school backpack were both slung over his shoulders. 

"You know that's not enough. Interesting? Fun? Terrible?"

Lance sighed. "Really, it was fine. My hitting was pretty good, but my serving was off. There's this new kid, Keith, that I don't like much."

His mom nodded. "Ah. Will pasta cheer you up?"

"As long as we have ice cream after."

She laughed. To him it sounded like bells twinkling. He loved his mom a lot. He knew she wouldn't press him for details, but she wouldn't give any life-changing advice until she knew more. "Okay."


	4. lunch table

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First game of the season. And lunch.
> 
> edit: lmao why did no one TELL me I fucked up the name of the chapter lol sorry

Lance put his tray down next to Pidge's lunchbox, then slid into the seat next to her. Lance opened his water bottle and took a sip, completely tuning out the conversation going on between Hunk and Pidge when he heard the word 'quadratic'. 

Lance was halfway through his grilled cheese sandwich when Pidge aggressively elbowed him in the ribs. 

"Um, ow?" Lance said, turning to his friend. 

"Look. Keith is sitting alone over there. You should invite him to sit with us."

"Me? What? No way. The guy hates me. Why would we even want him here, anyway?" Lance asked. 

"Because thanks to this new 'grade-divided lunch schedule', our table's pretty empty without Shiro, Allura, and Matt. Whatever, I'll do it myself," said Pidge, getting up and walking over to Keith, who sat isolated at a table in the corner of the cafeteria. 

Lance grumbled under his breath and tried to not be annoyed. He was suddenly not hungry, which was weird, because he was usually hungry, especially during school. 

"Why can't we invite Keith to sit with us just to be nice?" Hunk asked, shaking his head. Shay, the most recent addition to their friend group, just shrugged. 

"He'll probably say no, anyways," mumbled Lance. Hunk furrowed his eyebrows and looked over to Pidge and Keith, who were now talking. 

Lance looked over to them, too. Keith was looking up at Pidge, as she stood next to him with her arms crossed. Pidge gestured over to where Lance, Hunk, and Shay currently sat, and the three of them quickly looked back to their food when Keith glanced their way. 

Lance's right leg was bobbing rapidly under the table as he waited for Pidge to return. When she did, she took her place next to Lance, and Keith sat across from them at the circular table. 

"You can sit over here, you know," Pidge said. 

"Uh, that's alright."

A silence followed Keith's statement. Pidge went back to eating, and Lance was unintentionally (or maybe intentionally) looking everywhere in the room but at Keith. Hunk could clearly sense the uncomfortable silence, but didn't have a solution, so he just went back to his food, too. 

"So, you play volleyball, right?" Shay asked Keith. 

"Yeah. I'm on Lance and Hunk's team, actually."

"Cool. Perfect timing that you transferred here as the season was starting, right?"

Keith nodded. He took a bite of the peanut butter sandwich he had with him. 

Lance didn't know why Keith having a peanut butter sandwich surprised him. What did he expect Keith to eat for lunch? Nails and screws? He wasn't that scary. He just... wore a lot of black and red and always looked angsty. 

Lance inhaled through his nose and looked up at Keith. "So, you guys excited for the game tonight?" He turned to look over at Hunk. 

Keith nodded. "Definitely. Are the jerseys in yet?"

"How would I know?" Lance replied, shrugging. 

Hunk winced. "Hey, being the libero means you're in the starting lineup!" Hunk said, clearly trying to make Lance's comment seem less aggressive and more lighthearted. 

Pidge nodded. She said, with her mouth full of food, "Yeah, and Shay, Allura, and I are gonna be there. Don't worry, we made signs out of your favorite colors with your names on them." 

Lance smiled mischievously. "Great."

Hunk wrinkled his nose. "Did you make one for Keith?"

"Nope. What's your favorite color, Keith? I have art next period."

Keith shrugged. "Red, I guess." 

"Great. Unfortunately, though, you'll have to share a poster with Lance. There are three of us and five of you to cheer on. Sorry." 

"Hey! No fair! Why do Hunk and Shiro and Matt get solo-posters?" Lance said, fake-pouting at Pidge. 

"Shiro and Matt don't. They're sharing one, too. Allura's in charge of that one. Shay already made Hunk's, right?"

Shay nodded. "Too late to change it now. Sorry, boys." She didn't look very sorry, though; a smile was on her lips. 

"I'll share a poster with twelve other people, if someone cared enough to make it. Thanks," said Keith. Was Lance hallucinating, or did Keith have a hint of a smile on his face? Lance had to fight to not roll his eyes. What kind of mushy-gushy shit was coming out of Keith? Lance couldn't help but feel like Keith's comment made Lance look like an ass. Ugh. 

"See, Lance? Be grateful you have such good friends." Pidge said. Shay and Hunk laughed. Keith smiled a little. Lance rolled his eyes. 

"Trust me, I am."

"Ungrateful little shit," said Pidge with a smile. 

***

Lance walked into the gym behind his team. Him, Hunk, and Keith were the last people of the team to enter, as they were the youngest. The sixteen of them jogged out of the locker room doors and into the gym, circling up in the middle of the court. The crowd was cheering loudly. 

"Okay, guys, big moment. First official game of the season. I wanna hear a lot of talking and encouragement, on and off the court. No bad attitudes." Shiro said, leading the huddle. The boys stood with their arms around each other's shoulders. "It's okay if you make a mistake today. Shake it off, and make it up the next point. We can win this one, yeah?" The team echoed his 'yeah'. "Voltron on three-- one, two, three--" 

"Voltron!" Yelled the team. They went to the end line in numerical order by jersey and jogged to the net, slapping hands with the other team, saying "Good luck," to everyone. They went back to the bench and listened for their number to be called by the coach. 

"Okay, everybody, lets have a great game with lots of enthusiasm!" Coach Coran said, waving around his clipboard. "I know we can beat this team. Okay, anyways, let's start with the lineup. Alright, Rax, you're in one. You'll be setting for Shiro once you rotate into the front row. Alfie, two. Matt, you're in three, and Shiro you're in four. Gavin, you're in five, and Blake you're in six. Rax, when it's your turn to serve, switch out with Keith. Keith, you're playing back row for Matt. Blake and Lance, you'll rotate in for Alfie eventually. Got it?" Everybody nodded. Lance nodded tentatively. "Great. Good luck! We can do this! Team on three. One, two, three--"

"Team!" Shouted the group. 

And that was that. Lance took a seat on the bench next to Alfie and Hunk.

***

Lance was never 'the smart kid'. He wasn't known for being incredibly smart in the math and science departments. Or the history one, or the English one, for that matter. 

But volleyball was different. 

Unlike the concept of quadratics, Lance's understanding of volleyball grew exponentially over the years. The more he played, the better he got, and he got better fast. Everything in the game just clicked in his mind. 

His team, and many other opposing coaches, had him pegged as "the one to watch out for". He could pass the ball fairly well, he could block hits from the other side, his serve was amazing, but his hitting was what he prided himself most on. 

His nickname on his team was "sharpshooter" because of his skill in aiming his hits. Not only did he swing with incredible power and speed, but his accuracy almost never failed to earn his team a point. 

Unfortunately, he didn't grow to be 6'1" until the summer before sophomore year. At 5'6.5", his blocking and hitting had only been so-so, putting him on the junior varsity team for his freshman year. Thanks to a summer of clinics and camps, he refined his skills and was now a valuable asset to the Voltron High varsity team. 

"Lance! You're up!" Coran called down the line of boys.  

Lance sprang up and jogged to the ten foot line, where he made fists with his hands and circled his arms, the motion players make when they want to sub in for someone. The referee blew her whistle, and the referee on the ladder held his hands up, indicating the opposing team to not serve the ball yet. 

Alfie jogged over to Lance and held his right hand up. Lance put his right hand on Alfie's, waiting for the woman to grant him permission onto the court. She turned to the table of scorekeepers, then turned back around to Lance and Alfie. She made a swooping motion with her hand, allowing Lance to go in. Alfie slapped Lance's shoulder blade as he ran back to the bench. 

Lance high-fived Shiro then Matt, who were now in the front row with Lance, as he jogged to his spot on the ten-foot line. The referee blew his whistle, telling the player on the other team they can serve now. 

"Ball's up!" Shouted Gavin from the back row. That line never failed to make Lance snicker. 

The ball hit Gavin's forearms evenly, and the pass went high and to Shiro. 

"Four! Four!" Lance shouted, hopping back to get ready to jump. Shiro handled the ball and set Lance up to hit. 

Lance took three big steps and sprang off his left foot. Time felt like it slowed down, like in the movies where superheroes have all the time in the world to decide on where to strike next. 

His eyes scanned the opposing team. The back three were really deep in the back of the court-- he'd have to send it short, to the center of the court, where no one was. He raised his left arm high, his right arm bent behind him, feigning a huge swing, but he tipped the ball directly over the boys trying to block him, and the ball fell down onto the floor. 

The Voltron bench started clapping and hollering. Lance smiled brightly. Shiro was smiling and saying, "Nice!" as he high-fived the sophomore. Someone from the other team rolled the ball to Voltron's side and it was picked up by Matt. Matt tossed it to Keith, who now ran onto the court, and Keith went back to serve. Matt took a seat on the bench next to Alfie. 

The whistle blew. Lance turned only his head to watch Keith as he served. Although Keith did have a tendency to irritate him, Lance had to admit that Keith could play. Really well. Keith tossed the ball high in the air, making it rotate, and took a few steps then jumped. His hand hit the ball, and it went rocketing through the air, slamming down on the left side of the other team's libero. 

The bench once again erupted into cheers. Lance clapped his hands, and smiled. He didn't want to admit it, but it felt like he had to earn another point to impress the team. He bit the inside of his cheek, then released it quickly. 

The referee blew his whistle one Keith was ready to serve. This time, Lance didn't watch. He looked over to the other side and watched them prepare to pass. Lance heard Keith's sneakers on the gym floor, then the ball making contact with his hand. This time, the libero was able to pick up Keith's incredible serve. However, Lance could see that it was going over the net. The other team's setter got ready to tip the ball, but Lance thought quicker. He looked for an open spot, and tapped the ball down to the left of the setter. Point Voltron High. The bench started cheering again. Lance high-fived a few of his teammates. 

Keith kept serving for four straight points, until the middle hitter from Balmera High got a "kill"-- or spiked the ball and got a point. 

Lance backed up to the ten foot line to pass, in case the serve went to him. Keith's spot was now right behind Lance-- as in, less than four feet behind Lance. 

"I've got your short," said Lance to Keith. 

Keith just nodded. Lance inhaled and exhaled. Why is he always so passive? It's so annoying. 

Number fifteen from Balmera High stood on the end line and served. Keith shouted, "Mine!" and passed the ball to Shiro. Shiro quickly set the ball about a foot above his head, and Anton slammed it to the ground. Lance clapped Anton on the back and the six of them shouted and cheered. Lance glimpsed at the crowd and saw Pidge waving around a sign that was split diagonally in two-- the top half was red and the bottom was blue. Lance and Keith's numbers (nine and thirteen, respectively) were displayed in huge white letters, along with their last names. Shay waved a neon yellow sign around, and Allura had a sign that said "Shirogane #1" and "Holt #2" on it. The bleachers were filled with Voltron students, and their home team was currently in the lead by four points, in set one. 

Shiro's turn to serve. The other team passed it with ease, then set up to hit, but the hitter sent the ball out of bounds. Team Voltron cheered and Shiro went to serve again. 

Again, the ball was passed easily. This time, the setter went to the right side, and Lance got ready to block. Then, too late, Lance realized he was going to tip it over Lance's hands. Lance yelled, "TIP!" 

Flinging his left arm out in an attempt to catch the ball before it dropped, Lance's hand hit something hard. The ball spun off Lance's fist to his left. He whipped his head around and was met with Keith, on his knees and clutching his nose. Shiro quickly ran over, and the team crowded around. 

"Oh, man,-- I'm so sorry. Are you okay? Oh jeez. Are you alright?" Lance asked frantically, looking at Keith. Shiro bent down to Keith. 

"You alright?" Shiro asked concernedly. "Hunk, get someone to run for paper towels, and send the nurse over." Hunk ran to the table with referees. Coach Coran ran over, and Keith's nose started dribbling blood. 

Keith nodded. "Fine." He glanced at Lance. "You know, this probably wouldn't've happened if you'd just called the ball."

"Me?" Lance said, all traces of his apologies gone. "I didn't even know you were there. You should've called it." 

Their teammates' eyes darted from the two boys as they angrily spoke to each other. 

"Woah, woah ho-ho," said Coach, kneeling down next to Keith. "Saw what happened. This is why you boys need to communicate!" He said, waving his finger around enthusiastically. He didn't seem dreadfully worried about Keith's health. "How you doing? Here comes the nurse with some tissues. There, you go," he said, helping Keith stand. 

"I think you two should communicate less when you're not on the court together," whispered Anton into Lance's ear. 

Lance nodded, his arms crossed. "What happens now? Do I get a penalty or something? Is it a time out?" 

"Yeah, it's a time out. Unfortunately, we don't have another libero on deck to replace Keith, so it looks like we'll have to keep going without him."

The other five boys nodded. 

"Can we at least get Keith's nose blood off the floor?" Lance asked. 

Shiro followed Lance's gaze to the spot on the floor formerly occupied by Keith. A few drops of blood sat on the gym floor. 

Hunk made a face. "Nasty," he said. 

Shiro waved down a referee and presumably asked for supplies to clean up. Lance kept his arms folded over his chest, subconsciously watching the nurse help Keith clean himself up. She offered him a bag of ice, and he placed it on his nose. 

Lance was split between feeling guilty and feeling pleased. The game must go on, right? We don't need Keith to win, he thought. 

***

They needed Keith to win. 

The Lions were getting crushed in the third set of the match. The first one they had managed to win, but only barely-- twenty-three to twenty-five. The second set, they had lost sorely by eight points. Now, in set three, they were behind by nine points. Lance nervously chewed his cheek and fidgeted with his jersey as he went back to serve. 

His serve would've gone out of bounds-- but someone from the other team touched it, giving the point to Voltron, and an ace for Lance's records. 

He served again, and the ball was passed by the libero. Lance ran to the left back and got ready to pass. 

The outside hitter from the opposing team got ready to spike. Lance readied himself to dig. The ball went zooming towards him, and it shanked off his left arm. The ball spiraled away and out of bounds, where no one on his team could save it. His eyes widened. He ducked his head and said, "My bad," as his team pulled him into the huddle and told him it's okay. 

Then, the referee blew her whistle. Keith stood at the ten-foot line, ready to sub in for Lance. 

Lance put his hand on Keith's as the referee announced, "Thirteen for nine," to the woman recording subs and points. 

"Wow, one screw up, and I'm out?" Lance muttered. M

"Trust me, it was more than one." Keith said, slapping Lance on the back as he jogged onto the court. Lance turned and glared at Keith. And somehow I'm the mean one, thought Lance. 

*** 

Lance bounced his knee aggressively as he drove Hunk home. 

"I can't believe we won," Hunk said. 

"Neither can I," said Lance quietly but bitterly. 

"Hey, why so angry? We won, right?"

"The team loves Keith. So much. And they hate me. Why am I the drama king? It's not like I hit him on purpose. It was an honest mistake. But every point he makes, every save he gets, the team practically worships him. It's ridiculous." This spiel came out of Lance in a blur of rushed words. 

Hunk's eyebrows were raised high. "Yeah, it stinks."

Lance glanced at Hunk. "Hunk."

Hunk swallowed. "Yeah?"

"You suck at hiding shit. What is it?"

Hunk inhaled. "We, uh, kindasorta invited Keith to sit with us at lunch again."

"Who's we?"

"You know... Pidge and Shay and I." 

"Why? Traitor. All of you. Can't you see we're rivals?"

"You're not rivals. You're being dramatic. You're more like... frenemies. Don't you think you should, you know, patch stuff up with him?"

"How? The guy's a total jerkwad. There's no fixing our 'relationship'." He took his hands off the steering wheel to make quotations with his fingers. 

"Who knows? Maybe you guys will end up best friends someday."

"Can't wait," said Lance, his voice monotone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey!! I'm so glad you guys have been enjoying this story so far!! hearing that you like it makes me so happy lol. anyways, sorry it's been six decades since the last update. School started, and i have volleyball and zero time to kill. oh, also, funny story-- i started this story before i even tried out for my school's volleyball team, and just like lance, i made varsity!! except my excitement was probably quintupled lance's, because i made varsity, and im a fr*shman ! the excitement is real. i can tell you my reaction matched lance's. that being said, i have zip time to write, but im still kicking. definitely got more in store for this story. 
> 
> thanks for reading! more to come soon!


	5. partners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gets a taste of what it's like to be Keith's partner.

Lance was pissed. 

And it wasn't even at Keith. 

It was at his science teacher. And, okay, maybe Keith was involved. 

It's two weeks into the trimester, and Mr. Prestin assigns them a project worth a quarter of their grade. And, of course, Lance having sat with Keith on the first day meant they were now lab partners for at least the next month. And, finally, to top it all off, this was an at-home project-- meaning they wouldn't be working on it in class, and Lance and Keith had to find time to meet up and work on it. 

As if Lance didn't already have more than enough Keith in his life-- at lunch and at volleyball, which took up a large percentage of his time. And brain. 

"So, wanna meet up in the library before practice today?" Lance asked Keith. 

"Sure," said Keith.  

Lance inhaled and exhaled once quickly. "Okay. See you later, then." 

Keith nodded and went back to his phone screen. 

Lance felt a sudden urge to yank out his hair with his bare hands. He bit back a rude reply to Keith and walked out of the classroom with the other students, leaving his lab partner where he sat. 

***

"So, to start, how 'bout I start researching credible sources, and you start the opening title slide?" 

"Really? Is that all you think I can do?" Lance said, not so much hurt, but more annoyed. 

Keith sighed. "Not what I said, Lance. I just think we should get that out of the way before anything else."

"Fine," said Lance defiantly. "I'll make it all pretty, and decorate it with dicks around the border." 

Keith rolled his eyes and opened his laptop. Lance started a new slide on his Google account and started analyzing different project themes to make it look its best. He eventually chose a geometric-looking blue one, and titled the project and added his and Keith's names. 

"Finished. Want to make a rough outline of the eight slides, and I can sort those out?" 

"No need," said Keith. "He's already put in order the slides we need. I'll leave you to title them." 

"Oh," Lance said. "Forgot about that." 

And so he went through all six slides, titling them all and putting them in order. 

"Alright, I'm done. Ready to start writing?" 

Keith nodded. "Yeah. How about we start the introduction with--" 

Keith stopped mid-sentence when Lance's head leaned to the left, looking over Keith's shoulder at two girls walking into the library. 

"What are you looking at?" Keith asked, turning to follow Lance's gaze. A smirk was growing on Lance's face. Lance stood up and approached the girls. 

"Katherine, Giselle, what's up, ladies?" Lance said, leaning on the table him and Keith had covered with books. 

The two girls looked at each other with smirks to match Lance's. "Not much. Didn't think you knew what a library was, McClain," said Giselle, the shorter of the two. 

"Ouch. That hurts." Lance said, putting a hand to his chest. 

"Started your science project yet?" Asked Katherine, who was holding her biology textbook. 

"Doing it now with Keith here. What about you?" 

"About to right now." Katherine answered. She looked around the library at the array of tables, seeing that a large fraction of them were occupied. 

Lance looked around behind him. "Need a spot to sit? We've got room for two more," he said. 

Keith snapped his head up from his laptop, from which he was reviewing notes. He didn't say anything, as Lance figured he would, but his face turned a light shade of red and he looked annoyed. Lance sat back down next to his lab partner, and Giselle and Katherine sat down, smiling.  Lance had a shit eating grin on his face. He knew that this would annoy Keith. His smile grew wider. 

"Shall we get back to work?" Lance asked, waking his laptop screen back up. 

Keith bit his lip and nodded. "Please. Ready to start the first slide?"

"Yep." Lance replied. "So, maybe we should start with--" 

"Hey, Lance, does each slide have to be over five sentences?"

"Why yes, Katherine, I think he said each slide has to be at least seven." 

Katherine nodded. "Thanks."

"Anytime." 

Keith's hands were clasped tightly. "I think we've got to get to practice, Lance. We start soon." He began packing up his books and laptop. 

"You kidding? It's only three. We've got at least another--" 

"Whatever. I'm gonna start getting ready, feel free to join." Keith waved to Giselle and Katherine, and only Katherine acknowledged him. 

Lance rolled his eyes. "He's a pain in my ass. See you guys later." Lance stuffed his laptop in his bag and picked up his biology book. 

"Wait, why are you leaving? I thought you said your practice isn't for a little bit," Katherine said. 

Lance shrugged, slowly backing away from the table without even noticing it. "My friend Hunk should already be there, anyways. See you guys later." 

"Aw, bye," said Katherine, an exaggerated pout on her lips. 

Giselle said goodbye and continued working. 

Lance walked down the hallway. He couldn't see Keith, and figured he speed-walked all the way to the locker rooms. Lance snickered. Pulling out his phone, he sent a text to Hunk to head over to the locker room. He took a right turn and opened the locker room door. 

Keith was nowhere to be seen, but his bag was still on the bench. Lance shrugged with a "Huh," and grabbed his stuff and went to change. 

***

"Alright everybody, toes on the ten!" Coran shouted. 

The boys lined up in height order, their toes along the ten-foot line of the court. Lance was the third tallest on the team, and Hunk stood two inches shorter than him, putting three people in between them. Keith was the third shortest-- surprising, but Gavin and Sam were shorter than Keith, but just barely. 

"Last night in the shower, I dreamt up a new drill. You're going to LOVE this one." Coran said enthusiastically. 

"Oh God," said Blake, who stood to the left of Lance. 

Lance scrunched his eyebrows at Blake's comment, but kept listening to Coach Coran. 

"So, everyone will have a partner--" Coran said, and Lance immediately thought Hunk, "--but you won't get to pick."

Lance almost said "Aw," but bit it back at the last second. A few boys actually did let out noises of distress. 

"Essentially, you'll be playing a two-on-two inside the ten--which I'm sure you're all familiar with-- but as you go on, you'll have certain... handicaps... holding you back." Coran was smiling like a wild man. 

Lance raised one eyebrow. Everyone knew how to play a two-on-two inside the ten-- two people are on either side of the net, like beach volleyball, and you play the game regularly, but anything outside the ten-foot line is out. Handicap? What does he mean by "handicap"?

Coran pulled a button bag out of his pocket. "In this bag are different challenges, handicaps, ailments, whatever name tickles your fancy. One partner from each team will draw one, and each team has a handicap. Game goes to five." 

"Win by two?" Called out Keith. 

"Nope. First person to five wins. Good luck! We'll have a practice round first, sans ailments." 

The boys started looking around at each other. 

"Oh! Partners!" Exclaimed Coran. "Alright," said Coran,"Shiro and Sam, you're team one. Feel free to think of team names." 

Shiro and Sam, the tallest and shortest people on the team, met up in the middle of the line and high-fived. They walked around the line to go stand next to the net. 

Coran then pointed to Gavin, the next shortest person on the team, and Blake, who was on the opposite end, and now the tallest in the lineup. The two bro-hugged and stood a few feet from Shiro and Sam. 

"Keith," said Coran, pointing, "and Lance. Team three." Coran snickered quietly. Lance paused for a second, inhaled, then looked over at Keith, who was looking over at him. They stepped out of the line and met at the end of the line, and moved next to the other two groups. 

"Guess we're partners for everything." Lance said. When he got no acknowledgement from Keith, he said, "So, um, a team name." He never had a hard time striking up conversation with someone, but in this moment with Keith, it certainly wasn't easy. 

"Yeah," was all Keith offered. 

"Hm." Lance was at a loss for creativity. He never felt self conscious about cracking silly jokes and suggestions, but he felt like anything he suggested would be judged. 

Keith stared off into the distance, offering no help. 

"What about--" Lance started, then decided not to. "Nevermind. Any ideas?" 

Keith shook his head, pursing his lips. The boys looked around the gym; they looked at anything but each other. Before they knew it, all the teams were made. 

"Teams one and two, you're up first. Team names?" Coran asked, clipboard and pen ready. 

"We're team SS Lions." Shiro stated, him and Sam taking one side of the court. 

"Creative. I like the S for Shiro and S for Sam troupe. Very nice. And team two?"

"The Clouts," said Gavin with a shit-eating grin. The team chuckled. Coran clearly didn't get it, but waved them onto the court and wrote down their team name. 

"Alright, first team to five wins. SS Lions have first serve. I like their name better." 

"That's totally unfair!" Exclaimed Blake. 

The teams had three volleys, then Shiro won the SS Lions a point. 

Each team got a practice round, then the actual tournament began. 

"Alright, SS Lions vs. Team Three. SS, you're up to pick from the bag first." 

Sam went up to Coran's outstretched bag and reached in. 

Everyone listened intently. Lance could only wonder what the challenge was. "You are not allowed to speak any actual words when the ball is in play-- you can make noises in place of saying 'Mine!', 'I go!', or 'Yours!'. You have thirty seconds to discuss. Team Three, you're up."

Lance muttered a "You can go," to Keith. Keith walked up and pulled out a slip of paper. "You both must play with your... hands tied together." The team laughed. 

Keith cracked something that almost looked like a smile. Lance was in awe. Keith? Smiling? Lance smiled too. "What are we tying our hands up with?" He asked. "Wow, kinky," he muttered, and only Keith heard. Keith actually snickered. Keith laughed at one of my jokes? Lance was desperately confused. Every day, this boy acted differently. 

"Pre-wrap!" Coran yelled, tossing Lance a roll of neon pink pre-wrap. "If it breaks, the other team wins the point immediately!" 

Lance caught the pre-wrap, and him and Keith went to their side of the court. "Okay, so only underhand passing. Unless we tie it loose."

"Let's tie it loose, but loop it around a bunch of times. It won't break as easily." Suggested Keith. 

"Good idea. Why don't you do me first, then I'll do you." Lance handed Keith the roll. 

Keith's pale cheekbones turned a light shade of red. Lance then processed what he said, and started laughing. Thanks to his awkward comment, he somehow made things less awkward between the two of them. Good. 

Keith tied Lance's hands together, leaving about two inches of space between Lancy's bony wrists and wrapping the fabric around his wrists four times. 

Lance modeled his own bandaging on Keith's wrists and they got in position to play the game. 

"I got short, you got deep," said Lance. Keith nodded. Both boys got ready, bending their knees with their arms already out. 

Coran blew his whistle. Shiro served the ball from behind the ten foot line, hitting it extremely gently, as to keep it in bounds. 

"Mine!" Keith shouted. 

Lance raised his arms, and tried to set the ball, but didn't get hid hands there in time. The ball hit the tip of his fingers and spun quickly and fell onto the ground. Keith dove for it, but ripped his pre-wrap in the process. 

Coran blew his whistle and pointed to Shiro and Sam, awarding them the point. 

They high-fived. Shiro got ready to serve again. 

"Ah shit. Sorry man." Lance helped Keith up, offering him his still tied-together hands to help him up. Keith didn't take them and stood up. Lance felt guilty for losing them the point. Oh well. 

"Coran? More pre-wrap?" Lance asked. He kicked aside the one that Keith had ripped. Lance tied the fabric around Keith's wrists once more, struggling a bit, as his hands were still tied. 

Once Keith was all set, Shiro served the ball. "Got it!" Lance said, passing to Keith. Keith made to pass the ball to Lance again, but put it just enough over the net that the SS Lions didn't realize it had crossed the plane of the net until it hit the ground on their side. 

"Yeah! Nice one!" Lance said, going to high-five Keith, but realizing that wouldn't work, he offered his elbow, and Keith bumped his elbow to Lance's. 

Keith served the ball. Shiro passed, Sam set, and Shiro pushed the ball to the deep left corner. Lance picked it up, Keith set Lance up, and Lance made to push it far back, but just barely pushed it over the net. Both Shiro and Sam yelled something that sounded like, "AH!", but the ball dropped between them. 

Lance and Keith "elbow-fived" again. The score was 2-1 in Keith and Lance's favor. 

Keith served again, and Shiro passed to Sam. Sam tipped the ball harshly, and Lance wasn't there in time, and it bounced off Lance's arm and out. 

"Nice try, that's alright," said Keith. Lance wouldn't say it out loud, but hearing Keith condone his mistakes was so rare that he almost gasped. 

2-2. Sam serving. He served at Keith. Keith passed to Lance, who returned the favor and tapped the ball over the net. 

"Ah!" Shiro yelled. Matt pushed the ball over the net, then yelled, "Shit!", after seeing it was going too deep. He watched the ball drop on Lance and Keith's court. 

"In!" Coran yelled, "But, you talked using real words. Sorry, it's their point." 

Sam groaned. Lance and Keith laughed. 

Lance went up to serve. He served the ball, and Sam yelled, "Out!"

The ball went a few inches outside the ten foot line. "Sam, you can't talk!" Shiro said. 

Sam grabbed his hair and leaned back. Coran laughed manically. "Four to two, game point Team Three!" 

Lance served again. The ball went from Shiro, to Sam, back to Shiro, who tipped the ball backwards. Keith passed to Lance, who passed back to Keith, and Keith pushed it over the net to the deep corner. Shiro scrambled to get to it, but he hit the ball wrong and it went flying away. 

"Haha! Yes! Nice job, partner!" Lance said. Keith was smiling, which was crazy. He never usually smiled when he accomplished something or earned a point. The boys walked off the court and took off their pre-wrap on their wrists. 

You know, maybe we aren't such a shitty combination after all, thought Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, did you catch the amount of innuendos in that chapter? most of them weren't even intentional, i just saw the opportunities and i took them 
> 
> also sorry its been so long! school and sports are time consuming, who knew? i suck at time management and im still figuring it out. hope you guys liked this chapter! sorry the ending is kind of choppy and inconclusive but the next chapter is where stuff will start to get more ~interesting~. love you guys, thank you so so so much for reading! 212 that's literally so many people who have seen this wtf thank you so much


	6. the party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> that girl Katherine has a party. get ready it's (not really but i tried) a wild ride

Lance sat on his bed, iPhone in hand. He had Keith's number pulled up on his phone, ready to type him a message, but not knowing what to say. The plan was an apology, but he didn't know how to word it. Or what to say. He began to type, over and over again, but ended up backspacing and starting over every time. 

About five minutes later, he concluded on, "Hey. Wanted to apologize for the library earlier today. But practice was fun, right? Looks like we don't make such a shit team after all. Wanna try working on the project again tmrw after school?"

A few minutes later, Keith replied with: "Yeah, me too. Sounds good."

Lance couldn't help but smile. "Is it cool if Hunk and Shay come, too? They have the same project. Somehow they got partnered up."

Keith responded, "Sure. See u then" 

Lance said, ":)". 

And that was that. 

***

Lance, Keith, Hunk, Pidge, and Shay sat around the lunch table, discussing everything and anything. Lots about the science project, except Pidge, who was in an AP science class. 

"Did you hear about Katherine Murray's party?" Shay asked. 

"Oh, yeah. I hear it's gonna be 'big', to quote Martin from English class," said Pidge. 

"Did Martin invite you?" Lance asked. 

Pidge said, "What do you think? Of course not. I was eavesdropping on him and Kyle Tann."

"Ah." Lance said, nodding. 

"We should go." Shay said bluntly. 

"Um, we weren't invited?" Keith said in a questioning tone. 

"I don't think these kind of things require invites. In the movies, don't people just kind of show up?" Shay pondered. 

"Everybody, please. You don't have to ask twice. I'll get us invited." Lance said, leaning away from the table. 

"Really?" Hunk asked, already unsure. 

"Oh yeah, weren't they the two girls you were flirting with a few days ago?" Keith asked, looking at Lance. 

"If anything, they were flirting with me," said Lance. "I'll talk to Katherine during geometry." 

"Great!" Shay exclaimed. 

Pidge shrugged, but a hint of a smile graced her mouth. Keith was shaking his head, but Lance thought he caught a tiny smile there, too. 

***

Lance: guess what i snatched 

Pidge: mrs darron's weave? 

Lance: invites to Katherine's house on may 8th! told u i could get them 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey !! not even sure how long it's been since the last update, but probably too long. finally on vacation! merry Christmas happy Hanukkah happy Kwanzaa and to all a good night. my goal is to try and get another update up this week (if not, just know it'll definitely be in the works). thanks so much for reading y'all. im still so shook that this dinky little fic has almost 300 reads. also, feel free to comment! please do! and with that i say goodnight from where i live. love you guys (also i just wrote this whole thing in one sitting because i had an idea and motivation, but i dont have the energy to reread so uh enjoy this non-proofread short chapter lmao)


	7. ugh.

The bell rang, signaling the end of Spanish class. Lance's stomach gave a jolt of nerves, reminding him where he was heading next: science. Just the word made his brain go foggy. 

Because, as Lance kept unwillingly reminding himself, with science came Keith. 

The two hadn't really talked after Allura found them at the party two nights ago. Lance couldn't have reached out to Keith Sunday, anyways; he was babysitting his younger siblings all day and had no free time. At least that's what he told himself. And, he was sure Keith had his own occupations that day that prevented him from messaging Lance. 

His whole body felt like it was on fire nervous energy. He wasn't sure why he felt so unsure of himself, but he did know that he didn't want to make Keith uncomfortable. Or make himself any more uncomfortable than he already felt. 

And, on top of that, Lance didn't regret a single thing that happened Saturday night. 

He reached the door to his science classroom, where teens now spilled in. When Lance walked in, he glanced at his table to see Keith's eyes on him. He felt his cheeks threatening to turn red, so he immediately looked around the classroom; looking at anything but Keith as he made his way to the desk. 

Lance slid into his seat and took out his materials for the project. Keith already had his out. 

Clearing his throat, Lance said, "Want to finish up the notecards for our speech?"

"Yeah, sure. Um, I didn't do any over the weekend--"

"Oh, me neither--"

"...but, um, I have the ones from last time. So, the next slide is about respiration. You can explain the process?" Keith asked. 

"Yeah, you wanna explain what it needs and what it produces?" Lance answered. 

"Sure."

And the two went on like that for the whole period. Lance grew more comfortable as time passed, but he didn't yet have the courage to ask Keith how much he remembered from Saturday. He also had a suspicion that if anyone's memory should be foggy due to alcohol, it was probably his own. 

Five minutes before the period ends, Lance asks, "Wanna meet in the library before practice? Just to put the finishing touches on the project." Lance also knew that this really wasn't necessary-- meeting up after school would give them an hour before practice, and they only needed around fifteen minutes. Lance told himself that's when he'd bring up the subject of Saturday. 

Keith nodded. "Definitely."

Lance smiled a real smile for the first time that period. He felt slightly pleased when Keith's lips formed a tiny smile, but then Keith looked away and down at his notebook. The boys packed up their things, each hiding small smiles from the other. 

***

Lance headed to the library. He found a table and sat down, waiting for Keith. He tapped his pencil against the desk, then checked Instagram, then texted Hunk. 2:37. School had been over for twenty-two minutes. He pulled up Keith's contact, debating asking him where he was. Just then, Keith walked in. The library was near deserted, the only people being himself, Keith, a girl a few tables away and the librarian. 

Keith walked over to the table at which Lance sat and put his bag down. 

"Sorry I'm late. Shiro had me captive at my locker for a minute."

Shit. Shiro definitely knows we were kissing. Allura had to have told him. Fuck. Shit-- 

"Oh damn. Why?" Lance asked, hoping he sounded calm. 

"It was nothing." Keith said quickly. 

Lance looked at him skeptically. "Okay, then?" He said in a questioning tone. 

Keith shook his head and let a tiny smile grace his features. "I thought we could work on the cover for it. You any good at art?"

"I suck ass. You?"

"Hey, me too. Something we have in common. I can do bubble letters, though. Sort of." Keith said. 

Lance nodded. "Good enough for me. You can do that, and I'll draw little cells all around it."

"Sounds good."

So, they work in silence for awhile. As Keith draws, Lance does some of his English homework. After writing about one and a half sentences, Lance turns in his chair to look at Keith. 

"Was Shiro talking to you about Saturday night." Lance said, not really asking. 

Keith's cheekbones turned red and his eyes widened. "Maybe," he said quietly. 

Lance's mouth broke into a smile, that was half nervous and half genuinely amused. 

"So he knows?"

"You'll never guess who told him." Keith said sarcastically. 

"Hm, I wonder. Perhaps a certain girl with dark skin and white hair?"

"Woah, how'd you guess?"

Lance laughed a little. Keith did too. It felt like a breath he'd been holding in forever had been let out. 

They continued to work. Lance had a smile plastered on his face that he didn't even notice. 

Keith looked to him and said, "Done." He slid the paper over to him. 

Lance burst out laughing. "These are trash."

Keith let out a laugh, too. "Yes they are. Your job is to make it less sucky."

"That's impossible, but I'll try."

The boys switched roles and Keith went to his homework as Lance did some drawing. 

About two minutes into trying to focus, Lance turns to Keith again, but doesn't meet his eyes. "You know, I'm not upset about what happened Saturday." Said Lance quietly. 

Keith's pencil stopped moving. He didn't look at Lance, but he said, in an equally soft tone, "You mean Allura finding us upstairs?"

"I mean what she.. What we... What we were doing. Before she found um, us." Lance felt his cheeks going red. Why did he say that?

Keith didn't say anything for a few seconds, but it felt like years to Lance. 

"Me neither." Keith said, even quieter. Lance was still observing Keith's pretty face, and Keith eventually looked back at him. 

Lance felt like he was in a movie. The two slowly leaned in to each other, both afraid to make any sudden movements. Slowly, so slowly, the space between them got smaller, their lips close enough to--

"Lance! Keith! Jeez, where have you two been? Shiro sent me looking for you guys. He and Matt are calling an informal team meeting. Did you not see the group chat? Seriously, they sent out--" Hunk stopped mid-sentence. "What did I just walk into?"

"We were--" Lance started. 

"Science project--" Stuttered Keith. 

Hunk had his lips pursed. "Thank God we're in the corner of the library no one goes to. Ever. I'm gonna let you guys, uh, finish up. But don't take too long. Meeting starts once you're down there. But we need to be done by-- yeah. You got it. I'm-- bye." 

Keith and Lance threw their things into their bags and called for Hunk to wait. Before they could get to Hunk, an angry librarian blocked their path. 

"Quiet study. No talking, please. People come here to work, not socialize." She was old and at least a foot shorter than Lance. 

"Sorry," they said in unison. They made their way out of the library and down to the locker rooms. 

***

Keith and Lance practically ran down to the locker rooms and changed as quickly as they could into their practice clothes. They grabbed their bags and jogged into the gym, taking seats in the circle the team had formed in the middle of the court. Matt stopped talking and greeted them. 

"Nice of you guys to join us." Matt said, smiling amusedly. 

Lance smiled sheepishly. Keith shrugged. "Sorry, bro." Lance said. 

The team snickered. The boys laughed along. As Keith and Lance put on their sneakers and kneepads, Shiro took over for Matt. 

"Alright, guys. We need to win one more game until we're in the conference championships-- and we have six games to do so. I have no doubt we'll be able to do it." Shiro said. 

Matt then said, "But that's not why we called you all here. Coach will probably say a few things about it today at practice, but we figured we'd have a meeting to talk about it first, and to educate the new v-squad members." He looked to Hunk, Keith, and Lance. 

Shiro continued, "Our next game is against Galra. We can't lose to them this year. Last year, we won our first game against them, then a few weeks later we were blew out by them in three sets flat. We can't let that happen again."

"Zeke's a douche. We're not letting them win. They don't deserve to win." Matt said. 

Some good old fashioned rivalry. Everyone at Voltron knew of the Galra-Voltron rivalry-- it's a favorite for local newspapers, and every sports team gets into it. Of course, Lance didn't know how deep the dislike went for the varsity team, or why, but he hoped he'd find out. Maybe he'd ask Blake about it later. 

Lance glanced over at Keith. His lips were pursed to one side and his eyes were glazed over. Clearly, he was anywhere but in the Voltron High gym. Lance made a mental note to talk to Keith after practice. 

"So," Shiro said, "We have to redeem ourselves. Today's practice we have to work extra hard-- we only have this and tomorrow until Wednesday's game." 

"Perfect timing. Here comes Coran. Alright, let's go. Everybody start warming up." Matt finished. 

The boys dispersed, and the two captains went to talk with Coach Coran. Lance threw his bag on the bleachers, and turned to find Hunk standing there. 

"Hey, Lance, I'm gonna partner with Sam today. I think you and Keith should partner up." Hunk said, a smile on his face. 

Lance narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Okay?" 

Having heard his name, Keith walked over. "Pepper partners?" Lance asked. 

"Sure," said Keith. He went to get a ball from the ball cart, and Lance found a spot on the court for them to pass. 

***

Lance and Keith warmed up their arms, and passed the ball back and forth to each other. 

Keith, Lance, and the rest of the Voltron Lions stood on the home court of the Galra Gulls. A good third of the crowd in the bleachers wore black and white to cheer on Voltron, but the other parts of the crowd were mostly Galran. 

Lance hadn't gotten the chance to say "hi" to Keith before they got to Galra High. Keith was mostly talking to Shiro the whole way there, and before the bus came to pick the team up from school. Now the two warmed up together, but Lance could only see a glazed over look in Keith's eyes. He figured it had something to do with the fact that Galra high was Keith's former school, and his former teammates were there. 

Lance tried to shrug it off. He hoped Keith would be able to clear his mind enough to play well tonight. They couldn't win without Keith. 

After a few minutes, they're called to line up and shake hands with the other team. The sixteen boys from either team high five along the net, but most don't make eye contact. 

They finish high-fiving and make a huddle on their side of the court. 

"We have to, guys. We have to win. I want to shove it in--" Matt started. 

Shiro cut him off, saying, "Thanks, Matt. We have to win. Fair and square, of course, but we deserve it. We've worked so hard for this." He put his right hand into the middle, and called, "Voltron on three! One, two, three--"

"VOLTRON!" The boys shouted. All except Shiro, Blake, Matt, Gavin, Sam, and Anton left the court. Keith went to stand on the edge of the court lines, ready to switch in for Anton. 

Once the referee checked all the boys' positions, Lance watched Keith high five Anton and take his place in middle back. He could see that Keith looked unfocused. He wondered if Shiro or Matt did, too. 

The game started. Voltron wins the first point, and Galra wins the next. This is going to be a long game, thought Lance. 

Eventually, once the team had made one full rotation, Coran called Lance up and requested he sub in for Blake. Blake high fives Lance on the way out, and Lance jogs into his spot on the right side of the net. He turns to his left, ready to switch sides with Gavin once Shiro serves the ball. The ball goes over the net, and the two boys run to opposite sides. Lance stands with his hands up at the net, as do Gavin and Matt. The ball is passed; set; then it's hit from the outside-- opposite from Lance. Lance drops back to pass. Keith passes the ball to Shiro; Shiro sets the ball to Lance, and Lance hits the ball, not quite earning a "kill". The other team's libero passes it, but it comes back over the net. Matt blocks it, and Voltron celebrates. 12-11, Voltron's favor. The team gathers in the middle and high fives Matt. 

Shiro serves again, and Galra plays it out. The other team tips the ball, and Keith dives and pops the ball up. Shiro back-sets, setting up Gavin to hit. Gavin takes a swing and gets a "kill"-- a back row player touched the ball, but it flew off his arm, to where no one could save it. Voltron celebrates again. 

Pass; set; hit; the ball comes over in a free ball. The volleyball floats over the net in a high arc. Keith goes to pass the ball, but it goes to the left, instead of to the right where Shiro stands-- and where the ball is supposed to go. 

Lance had a very fleeting thought of "Keith, what the hell?" It wasn't that he was angry, it was that Keith never missed a pass. Something must be wrong, for this was the third shoddy pass this match. 

Matt yelled, "Mine!" and set the ball to Lance. Lance took a slow approach and swung hard. The ball was blocked, and Lance trusted Keith to be there, but for the first time-- he wasn't. The ball had flew off Keith's hands and spiraled backwards. Keith looked mildly horrified. "I'm so-- ugh, I'm sorry, guys--"

"Hey, man, it's alright. Don't worry about it." The team told him. Lance patted Keith's shoulder. 

More points flew by. Not all were Keith's fault, but a fraction of them were. The game was now 17-21, Galra in the lead. Coran, at this point, called a time out. 

The six on the court, including Lance, walked to the sidelines. Hunk handed Lance his water bottle, and Lance thanked him. 

"Alright, everybody needs to get out of their heads. Now's not the time to lose focus. Only worry about what's on our side of the net, not theirs." Coran said. 

Shiro said a few more words, but Lance wasn't listening. He was looking at Keith, who had his eyes cast down and was twisting the hem his jersey in his hand. Lance wished he knew what he could do to calm Keith's nerves, but he didn't know what would calm him down. 

Just as he was thinking this, Shiro put his hand on Keith's shoulder and nodded away from the circle. The two of them left the huddle, while the rest of the team put their hands in and cheered "VOLTRON!"

Lance watched the exchange between the two boys. Shiro had his hands on either of Keith's shoulders, and Keith was nodding with his head still down. Maybe it's some kind of 'get your head in the game' pep-talk, thought Lance. 

The referee blew the whistle and the players returned back to the court. 

Lance repeated to himself, this is going to be a long game.

***

Not a single person was talking on the bus ride home. 

No one from JV or varsity made a noise. Most of them had headphones on, while others looked solemnly out the window. Lance sat next to Hunk, his left leg bobbing up and down in the aisle of the bus. Lance had headphones in, but wasn't listening to anything. He only had upbeat playlists on his Spotify, and wasn't in the mood for Rihanna or Cardi B. 

Keith sat alone in the seat next to Hunk and Lance's. Slumped down in his seat, Keith wore white Apple earbuds and was gazing down at his lap. 

Lance looked to Hunk, then back to Keith. Hunk was staring out the window. Lance decided, impulsively, to go over into Keith's seat. 

Sliding next to Keith, Lance took out his own headphones. Keith looked up immediately. "Hi," he said, quietly. Lance barely heard it over the rumble of the bus. 

"Hey. How are you? You look really upset." Lance said. 

"Thanks," said Keith. 

"You know I didn't mean it like that. Are you... sad about the game? We have another chance to win. Later in the season..." Lance trailed off. 

Keith shook his head. "Nah. I mean, I'm sad, but we only lost because of me. I did so bad. I'm just... I'm really mad at myself. For letting it get to me."

"What?"

"What what?"

"What did you let get to you?" Lance asked tentatively. 

"Oh," Keith said. "It's nothing. I hate those guys from Galra. I left for a reason. Everyone at that school is... vile. I couldn't do it anymore."

Lance wasn't satisfied with the answer, but he wasn't going to press. "I'm sorry you had an off night, but your mistakes weren't the reason we lost. It's a team effort. We'll just have to do better next time."

Keith opened his mouth to say something more, but shut it before anything came out. "Thanks, Lance." 

Lance smiled halfheartedly. "Anytime," he said, and after looking at Keith for a moment more, slid back into his seat with Hunk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi y'all. it's midterms week for me, anyone else? i should be studying for math for tmrws test but this was more fun. sorry the chapter got kind of bleh at the end. itll get more interesting and elaborate later on, i was tryna develop it a little before diving right in. sorry about the slow pace lol. anyways, how would you feel about a chapter from Keith's pov? 
> 
> love you. thank you for reading. I'm


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